Note: this is an EXE installer that creates shared texture folders and adds paths to your autoexec.cfg.
UH-1 Huey of HA(L)-3 Seawolves
Scramble Seawolves!
This was the common call in Vietnam when the US Navy Riverine Forces and SEALs needed immediate fire support. Helicopter Attack Squadron (Light) Three (HAL-3), known as the Seawolves, was the most decorated unit in the Vietnam War.
Seawolves flew UH-1B Huey gunships in all weather, day or night, in support of the Brown Water Navy. In fact, most of the missions were conducted at night in inclement weather, which is exactly when the SEALs preferred to operate. HA(L)-3 would conduct Close Air Support, Hot Medivac and Insertion/Extraction of SEAL Teams.
HA(L)-3 was decommissioned in March 1972, near the end of the Vietnam War.
Unit Decorations:
6 Presidential Unit Citations
6 Navy Unit Citations
Meritorious Unit Citation
Vietnam Cross of Gallantry (MUC) Palm
Vietnam Civil Action (Honor) with Palm
Vietnam Presidential Unit Citation
Individual Decorations:
5 Navy Crosses
31 Silver Stars
2 Legions of Merit
219 Distinguished Flying Crosses
156 Purple Hearts
101 Bronze Stars
142 Gallantry Crosses
Over 16,000 Air Medals
439 Navy Commendation Medals
228 Navy Achievement Medals
The Skin (Seawolf 321):
I chose to model the surviving HA(L)-3 UH-1B airframe in the scheme as it now exists on the USS Midway (CV-41) floating museum. Because of the 3D models used for the aircrew, I have skinned the pilots and gunners in contemporary USN flight uniforms.
A note about the Crew Chief & Door Gunner:
Since enlisted US troops don't wear rank/rate insignia on flightsuits, their rank/rate is displayed on their nametag. Since there are no specific nametag textures for the crew chief/door gunner texture, I have added a nametag to the velcro on the chest armor (as is standard practice).
In choosing names for the texture, I opted for US servicemembers who received the Medal of Honor. MA2 Michael Monsoor represents the Unites States Navy in these skins. The following is his Medal of Honor citation:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as Automatic Weapons Gunner for Naval Special Warfare Task Group Arabian Peninsula, in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM on 29 September 2006. As a member of a combined SEAL and Iraqi Army sniper overwatch element, tasked with providing early warning and stand-off protection from a rooftop in an insurgent-held sector of Ar Ramadi, Iraq, Petty Officer Monsoor distinguished himself by his exceptional bravery in the face of grave danger. In the early morning, insurgents prepared to execute a coordinated attack by reconnoitering the area around the element's position. Element snipers thwarted the enemy's initial attempt by eliminating two insurgents. The enemy continued to assault the element, engaging them with a rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire. As enemy activity increased, Petty Officer Monsoor took position with his machine gun between two teammates on an outcropping of the roof. While the SEALs vigilantly watched for enemy activity, an insurgent threw a hand grenade from an unseen location, which bounced off Petty Officer Monsoor's chest and landed in front of him. Although only he could have escaped the blast, Petty Officer Monsoor chose instead to protect his teammates. Instantly and without regard for his own safety, he threw himself onto the grenade to absorb the force of the explosion with his body, saving the lives of his two teammates. By his undaunted courage, fighting spirit, and unwavering devotion to duty in the face of certain death, Petty Officer Monsoor gallantly gave his life for his country, thereby reflecting great credit upon himself and upholding the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
Petty Officer Monsoor is also the namesake of the USS Michael Monsoor (DDG-1001), the second in the upcoming line of Zumwalt Class guided missile destroyers.
For Compact Installations - A Note About Autoexec.cfg:
Rather than copying texture files to their respective livery folders, I prefer to use a series of common texture folders along with unique filenames. This allows a single instance of many of my common textures, and keeps the hard drive footprint to a minimum (especially nice if you run a SSD for your system drive).
The installer will add a series of folders to the DCS Texture path; if you do not have these folders created, then it is no problem. The autoexec.cfg included will automatically point to the Texture folder in your Saved Games\DCS folder, and regardless of whether you run the Release, Open Beta, or Legacy version of DCS, the path will always point to your Saved Games\DCS\Texture folder. Again, this saves space on your hard drive.
If you use your own Autoexec.cfg, then when prompted to overwrite you can click "no". This will create a file called autoexec.new, and you can manually make the updates as you like. Just don't modify the top line with the file date; this is used by the installer for version control. However, feel free to include it in your existing autoexec.cfg, so you don't get prompted to overwrite until there's another update to the autoexec.cfg.
If you inadvertently overwrite your autoexec.cfg, it is actually backed up as autoexec.old. Just open it and copy the appropriate information to the new file.
For Traditional Installations or JSGME Compatible Extractions:
If you don't wish to use the shared texture folder and custom autoexec.cfg, you have a couple of other options available. Selecting the Traditional Install copies all textures to each livery folder, then copies each livery to each version of DCS detected (up to three versions, including release, legacy 1.5, and open beta). As a result, the listed hard disk space requirement assumes all three DCS versions are installled. Each skin is independent and portable.
If you wish to install to a location other than your Saved Games folder, you must sel ect the Single JSGME Extraction, or else the installation will fail for not detecting existing Saved Games\DCS folders. Selecting this option will create a JSGME compatible install that can be dropped directly into your JSGME _MODS folder for installation. Each skin is independent and portable.
For either of these installation options, if there is an issue with textures not displaying, then it is likely a problem with the installer. Please let me know what textures are missing so that I can troubleshoot the issue.
Change Log:
1.0 Initial Release
1.01 Reordered material names in description.lua for better compatibility with default and 3rd party skins.
Removed white bands fr om skids.
Added custom rotor colors.
1.02 Adjusted position of red engine cowling stripe.
1.03 Updated for DCS World 1.2.6 (h/t zaelu; thanks for the catch!)
1.1 Updated for DCS World 1.2.7
1.2 General Texture fixes and improvements
1.21 Updated Pilot/Gunner skins and helmet texture
1.3 Added "slick" specific textures
1.32 Fixed left door gunner texture
Updated installer for DCS 2.5 and DCS Legacy 1.5
Enjoy, and Fly Navy!
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